


To Be a Host

by crimsonseekers



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Gen, Soundwave worries about his children, Starscream becomes a host, and predictably, is not happy about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22353172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonseekers/pseuds/crimsonseekers
Summary: Soundwave is injured, and unable to dock his cassettes - a routine vital to their health. Naturally, the next best option to take care of them is obviously Starscream.
Relationships: Cassettes & Soundwave, Cassettes & Starscream, Soundwave & Starscream
Comments: 20
Kudos: 212





	To Be a Host

**Author's Note:**

> On an episode of MTMTPod (1.6 I think?) Kit made a joke about Starscream being forced to take care of Soundwave's cassettes while he's injured (like full-on turned into a host), and thus this was born.

Soundwave didn’t get hit in battle very often - he was shrewd, intelligent, and agile. Normally those qualities were enough to get him by with relatively minor injuries, or at least avoid anything really,  _ really _ vital. But sometimes the universe just wasn’t having it, and Soundwave ended up on extended leave at Hook’s Medbay Resort™.

“His dock is completely destroyed,” the CMO told Megatron stiffly. “It’s wired into enough of his systems that it’ll take me at  _ least _ three days to rebuild.”

“Cassettes?” Soundwave asked shortly from where he lay prone on the medberth.

“Yes, yes, they’re all fine, no need to worry about it,” Hook said, checking his vitals again.

_ “Negative,” _ Soundwave stressed. “Cassettes: docking required.”

“Well, they’re certainly not docking with you for a few days. Is it necessary?”

“Cassettes sparks: unstable,” Soundwave admitted slowly after a moment. “Stabilization: acquired if in proximity to host spark. Destabilization: occurs when unable to align self with host spark for long periods.”

“And your recovery period is too long to leave them without a host,” Megatron guessed. Soundwave nodded. “Would sleeping next to you prove viable enough?”

“Negative. Required:  _ close _ proximity to host spark. Cassettes: require docking to be close.”

Megatron simply hummed his acknowledgment and turned to Hook. “Is it possible to modify someone to have a temporary alternative docking station?”

“Sir, with all due respect, creating space for that kind of hollow in someone’s chest and moving all the systems out of the way to do so would take me longer than repairing Soundwave.”

Yet somehow, everything could always find a way to be worse.

At that very moment, Starscream burst into the medbay, shrieking about his bent wing and how Hook better get over there  _ right now _ and do something about it, but paused when he noticed the intent stare that Megatron had laid upon him. More specifically, the way the lecherous pervert was eyeing up his chest.

Megatron turned back to Hook slowly, a devious glimmer in his optics. “Would Starscream’s cockpit suffice?”

That was when Soundwave realized that he had never felt true horror until that very moment.

* * *

Starscream, predictably enough, screeched about the unfairness of the situation when told about it, and made a valiant attempt at clawing Megatron’s optics out when the warlord began wrangling him onto the operation table.

Soundwave’s cassettes were similarly dismayed when told about the problem at hand and were only barely calmed by Soundwave’s (admittedly weak) reassurances that it wouldn’t be  _ that _ bad.

When they were faced with a newly upgraded Starscream (his cockpit gutted to make room for the cassettes and all necessary ports installed to sync them with his systems), they looked back defiantly with Soundwave, who, for a mech with no face, did an admirable job of looking even less pleased with the situation than the Air Commander was.

The Air Commander who was only there because Megatron had tied him to a chair to keep him still after he woke up from his (highly unwanted) reconstructive surgery.

The Air Commander who looked more than ready to tear them out of his cockpit (now cassette dock) and throw them into a smelter halfway through their recharge cycle.

Soundwave looked back at them and sighed. “Cassettes: only required to be with Starscream during their recharge cycle.”

“Or,” the aforementioned seeker hissed venomously, “we could let the little gremlins offline and none of this will be necessary.”

If there was one thing Rumble and Frenzy knew how to do, it was how to do something out of spite.

“Open up, Screamer,” Rumble said with a vicious little smirk as he and his twin clambered onto Starscream’s lap.

“Yeah,” Frenzy piped in, smacking the glass of Stracream’s… dock (?) demandingly. “It’s getting cold, and  _ you _ have to keep us warm.”

“Oh, like I’m  _ ever _ going to let you two menaces so close to my-” Starcream’s vocalizer hiccuped painfully as Megatron, dutifully watching over the proceedings from behind his shoulder, dug his claws into Starscream’s wing and began to  _ twist. _

It was a long, long moment before Starscream’s resolve broke and the cover of his cockpit swung open with a hiss, revealing the newly built dock that was to be the cassettes’ home for the next week.

After a second of hesitation, Rumble jumped, transformed, and promptly bounced off the edge of Starscream’s dock with a tinny  _ tink _ and a loud  _ “Ow!” _

Rumble flopped back onto Starscream’s lap as he transformed, rubbing his head and glaring at his temporary host as he cackled maliciously.

“Ev’rything’s different,” he mumbled defensively to his siblings' amused stares. “Not the same as jumping into Soundwave.”

And thus, the cassettes had to be inserted manually, one at a time by Hook with some direction from where Soundwave lay on the repair berth. Starscream jerked as each one clicked home in his new dock, and every shudder of his frame as each cassette synced with his systems was accompanied by a deepening of his scowl.

Despite nearly toppling over when he stood up, not expecting the added weight that five cassettes in his cockpit would bring, Starscream managed to not say anything that might disturb the beginning of the cassettes recharge cycle (apart from assorted angry rumblings, but that was to be expected).

Soundwave pinned Starscream with a harsh, threatening glare before he could take a single step to escape the medbay and attempt to ‘fix’ the problem himself.

“Cassettes: neglected or damaged; Starscream: will never be found.”

And then Starscream was allowed to leave without any further ceremony, though he glanced back at Soundwave suspiciously over his shoulder as he left the medbay.

* * *

“Eughck,” was about the transcription of the disgusted noise Starscream made as he had to pull all of the cassettes out of his chest the following morning. Rumble and Frenzy fell on top of each other, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw circled Starscream insistently, getting whacked by his flicking wings each time they tried to land on his shoulders, while Ravage landed calmly next to the entangled twins, staring intently at Starscream.

When Ravage received no acknowledgment from the seeker, he began clawing at his foot, disregarding the curls of paint that he stripped from his plating.

“Oh, what could you  _ possibly _ want from me now?” the seeker snapped at the felinoid, determinedly brushing Laserbeak and Buzzsaw off his frame each time they landed somewhere new (top of his head, shoulder pauldrons, wings, null rays).

**_“Food,”_ ** Ravage pinged him shortly. Starscream made another disgusted sound and gave up trying to fend off the two avians in favor of putting his hands on his hips, attempting to strike an imposing authoritative figure. Which was a goal the SIC missed by a mile, as Buzzsaw settled down on top of his head.

“I’m not your servant, go get your own energon.”

**_“Laserbeak, Buzzsaw and I have no hands, and Frenzy and Rumble’s access to the dispenser has been revoked for obvious reasons,”_ ** Ravage said shortly, flicking his tail.

“Then starve for all I care,” Starscream rebutted, whacking Buzzsaw off his head and flicking Laserbeak off his wing as he exited his quarters.

The seeker barely got his foot out the door before Ravage opened a general comm between himself, Soundwave, and Starscream.  **_“Soundwave,”_ ** he began slowly, not taking his optics off Starscream, who whipped around to stare at him accusingly.

**_“Ravage: has query?”_ **

“Fine!” Starscream snapped out loud, throwing his arms up in defeat. “I’ll get you your energon!”

There was a tense pause as Ravage held optic contact with Starscream, and kept the comm with Soundwave open for an agonizingly long moment.

**_“The situation has resolved itself - please disregard this comm.”_ **

**_“Affirmative.”_ **

Ravage pawed towards Starscream, tail lazily swaying back and forth. The seeker huffed and stomped away toward the rec room to retrieve the groups' rations, a swarm of cassettes following him.

“The second this is over,” Starscream hissed, “I’m throwing all of you into the smelter.”

Starscream may not have had fear of Megatron or Primus, but Soundwave did not make threats often nor lightly.

* * *

The first and second days passed in relatively similar mundanity - the cassettes avoided Starscream, Starscream avoided the cassettes. They held a similar, mutual contempt for each other.

Starscream was preoccupied with meetings for the raid in a few days, Rumble and Frenzy went wild on a pranking spree without Soundwave to curb their intentions, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were on reconnaissance, and Ravage lazed about the medbay near Soundwave.

The third day, however, was interesting.

Logically, the cassettes all knew that for their next raid on a new hydroelectric plant they would have to reroute their usual strategies and transportation around Starscream, but the theory and execution of said situation were markedly different.

**_“Starscream!”_ ** Rumble called desperately over a new group commlink they’d had to set up specifically for the battle.  **_“Could use a little evac here!”_ **

There was a deep, annoyed growl over the line before Starscream actually responded.  **_“Where.”_ **

**_“Ironhide’s gettin’ a little handsy.”_ **

Starscream dropped off the line without a response, but Rumble was fairly confident fear of repercussion from Soundwave would be enough for the seeker to help him out of Ironhide’s grasp. Probably. Maybe.

Eh, Starscream’s judgment was actually fairly questionable at times.

Before Rumble could begin concocting a Plan B, however, the shriek of high-performance engines rang loud in his ears right before a jet  _ slammed _ into the Autobutt weapon maniac, forcing him to let go of Rumble as he collapsed to the ground. Starscream transformed and ran at Rumble, saying nothing as he grabbed the indignant cassette by the scruff of his neck and tossing him into his dock, transforming, and shooting off before Ironhide recovered enough to attack him.

Rumble, having had nowhere near enough time to transform and slot into the dock, was left to clang around the empty space uselessly as Starscream executed sharp maneuvers with little to no (probably the latter) concern about the cassette tumbling about.

**_“Frenzy, what’s your location?”_ ** Starscream asked shortly, and Rumble could only hope that he was aiming to land him with his twin, because while Rumble wasn’t all that susceptible to motion sickness, he was, in fact, susceptible to processor damage.

**_“Tangoing with Sideswipe. Why?”_ **

**_“Jump.”_ **

And that was about all the warning Rumble got before Starscream flipped upside down and opened his cockpit, and it was only by the sheer force that Starscream’s speed created that he didn’t fall out. Frenzy suddenly shot into his field of vision an astro second before they smacked into each other as Starscream closed his cockpit and veered sharply upwards.

“What the  _ frag, _ Starscream!” Rumble screeched, shoving Frenzy off of him. “What do you think you’re doing, because I’m gonna start kicking your fuel tank if you don’t let me out!”

“Making you someone else’s problem,” Starscream grunted, and being in his cockpit gave Rumble and Frenzy the unique view of watching the seeker’s ailerons strain against the wind as he sharply changed direction  _ again, _ sending them both crashing into the other end of the dock.

Being in his cockpit also gave them the uniquely terrifying experience of hurtling towards the ground at Mach 2.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Frenzy mumbled, and certainly seemed like it, looking nauseous as the ground hurtled up towards them at a dizzying speed.

“If I never fly again it’ll be too soon,” Rumble squeaked in agreement.

Starscream’s cockpit opened again, and both of them shrieked as the wind whipped past their faces. The SIC suddenly pulled parallel with the Earth (just before they all went  _ crunch _ against the ground, thankfully) upside down, and the massive momentum Frenzy and Rumble were still carrying dropped them straight out of his dock and onto the ground.

A ground that happened to be on the other side of the battlefield, and very much crawling with Autobots, who were staring at them in varying levels of shock (probably because they had somehow hitched a ride with  _ Starscream, _ of all mecha).

Luckily, Rumble and Frenzy regained their bearings before they did.

“Bet I can get more of ‘em than you,” Rumble crowed as his arms transformed into piledrivers.

“Oh, you’re  _ on,” _ Frenzy snapped back, right before he  _ shrieked. _

Ravage didn’t have much better luck when he called for help - normally, the situation would be handled by Soundwave swiftly and systematically working through any nearby Autobots and retrieving him. Starscream, however, seemed unduly fond of his unorthodox methods to transport them around the battlefield.

In short, Ravage was picked up by his scruff bar and  _ thrown _ over the fighting crowds to a point where he was closer to the stockpiled energon they were hurriedly building up. Starscream was very, very lucky his insane maneuver was executed on the only cassette with the level of grace need to land safely.

When a retreat was called, as they inevitably seemed to always be, there wasn’t any time to cautiously seat each of the cassettes into Starscream’s dock, as they hadn’t had the time nor the inclination to master jumping into the seeker.

Which was how Ravage, Rumble, and Frenzy ended up uncomfortably crammed into Starscream’s dock in root mode, while Laserbeak and Buzzsaw dug their claws into his wings and held on for dear life.

When Starscream landed back in the  _ Nemesis, _ he scarcely paused before harshly grabbing onto Laserbeak and Buzzsaw and began marching towards the medbay and unceremoniously tossing the two avians onto Soundwave, scooping the other three cassettes out of his dock to join them.

“Yours,” he told the amused carrier shortly. Soundwave’s dock was mostly rebuilt, and would probably be finished within a few hours, accounting for minor injuries sustained during their altercation with the Autobots. “Next time, Soundwave,” Starscream hissed, “find someone else to be your babysitter.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hyper fixated hard and wrote this in like three hours. was there a plot to this? not really. should there have been? probably.
> 
> anyway go listen to [More Than Meets The Pod](http://mtmtpod.libsyn.com/)
> 
> My [twitter](https://twitter.com/crimsonseekers)  
> My [tumblr](https://crimsonseekers.tumblr.com)


End file.
